woensdag 20 maart 2013

Paul Moser's Personifying Evidence

"We should clarify what exactly God, as worthy of worship, would seek to reveal to humans. If the answer is, as suggested, “God’s personal moral character,” we can see why God would rely on an irreducibly personal witness for self-revelation, rather than on mere information or mere arguments. The best witness to a personal moral character is itself personal and hence goes beyond mere information and mere arguments. This simple but crucial lesson is widely neglected among philosophers, theologians, and other theorists. In bringing it to center stage, we can begin to make sense of the kind of direct, foundational evidence and self-manifestation to be expected of a God worthy of worship. We also can see why an authorizing self-witness from God is better suited as direct evidence in this case than a mere logical proof or any other kind of mere argument." (Paul K. Moser, Agapeic Theism: Personifying Evidence and Moral Struggle, European Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2 (2), 2010)